Junior College

Sherpa guide scales Mount Everest for record-setting 22nd time

Kami Rita reached the summit of Mount Everest Wednesday morning, marking a record 22nd time he has reached the top of the tallest mountain in the world, according to Binaj Gurubacharya of the Associated Press.

Sherpa succeeded to break the record of 21 ascents of Everest set by Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa, both of whom have already announced their retirement.

A 44-year-old woman, Lhakpa Sherpa, who lives in Connecticut, United States, climbed for the ninth time on Wednesday, breaking her own record of the most summits by a woman, her Nepali hiking company said.

Mr Kami Rita Sherpa, a professional guide, and Ms Lhakpa Sherpa, who works in a supermarket in CT, reached the summit from opposite sides of the 8,848m mountain yesterday.

A boom in climbers has made mountaineering a lucrative business since Sir Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent in 1953.

Alpenglow Expeditions said in a statement: "Multiple teams using the same device have experienced similar oxygen system failures".

Nepalese mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa prepares to leave for an expedition to Everest in Kathmandu on April 18, 2018. He first reached the top of Everest in 1994. According to the Himalayan Database, a record of expeditions in the Himalayas since 1903, out of 8,306 Everest summits so far, 5,280 have happened from Nepal and 3,026 from Tibet.

He said he wants to do this not to break records or set new ones but because of his passion and zeal to climb the Everest. In her early days, she would help climbers by cooking form them and worked as a porter before she trained as a climber.

Number of times Mr Kami Rita, 48, a professional guide, has reached the Everest summit.

The climbing season for runs from March through May and hundreds of climbers are now on Everest, trying to reach the top from both the Nepali and Tibetan sides of the mountain.

This year, her climb was sponsored by the outfitter Black Diamond, who provided gear and monetary support.